Market Comment - 18.02.2022

ZSE maintains bullish trend... The market maintained its rising streak for the fourteenth consecutive session as the primary All Share Index went up 1.42% to 15228.52pts. The Industrial Index added 1.42% to settle at 50358.54pts while, the ZSE Top Ten advanced 2.10% to 10211.38pts. The Mid Cap Index was the only faller amongst the indices as it slipped 0.65% to 24222.31pts. Star Africa headlined the risers of the day after gaining 10.75% to close at $1.7693, reinforcing previous session gains. Trailing was ART that put on 6.39% to end at $11.5000, following the announcement by the company that it has secured a new tissue converting line for its subsidiary Softex. National Foods jumped 5.98% to $1799.5050 while, apparel retailer Edgars improved 5.09% to $5.4647. Econet capped the top five winners of the day on a 4.72% uplift to $139.9787, closing with a spread of $138.0000-$140.0000. On the downside was Truworths that shed 9.09% to $2.0000 as SeedCo Limited declined 7.48% to end at $194.3000. Insurer First Mutual Limited trimmed 5.41% to $21.0000 while, brick manufacturer Willdale retreated 5.38% to $3.0383. Agriculture concern Ariston continued to weaken further as it let go 3.29% to $3.3917. Seventeen counters registered gains against thirteen that lost ground, leaving the market with a positive breadth of four. Activity aggregates enhanced as volume of shares traded ballooned 120.43% to 11.24m while, turnover surged 114.02% to $879.07m. Heavies Delta, Econet and Innscor claimed a combined 83.08% of total volumes as Nampak and Econet anchored the value aggregate with respective contributions of 57.76% and 24.18%. The Old Mutual ETF rose 3.49% to $8.5914 while, the Morgan and Co ETF inched up 0.61% to $14.0047. No trades were recorded on the VFEX.